Walt Disney For the Win

03.28.13

American Propaganda: Better Than British Propaganda

A Facebok commenter directs our attention to a spectacular propaganda piece by Walt Disney. From its Youtube description:

Der Fuehrer's Face is both interesting in its historical context and hilarious in its imaginative content. Winning the Academy Award for "Best Short Subject (Cartoons)," this little animated gem is arguably one of the most entertaining piece of propaganda ever produced. Released on January 1, 1943, the United States was only in its first year of World War II and needed all the morale it could get - and Walt Disney Pictures delivered that with this short film. With the Spike Jones and His City Slickers version of Oliver Wallace's song "Der Fuehrer's Face" playing over the film, the audience is introduced to "Nutzi Land" via a marching band made up of Hitler's stooges: Goebbels, Hirohito, Goering, Mussolini, etc. The picture slowly pans to this little shack of a house where Donald Duck is sleeping soundly until he's woken by a loud alarm clock, Aryan cuckoo clock, and a rude poke of a bayonet. From there we see him suffering the poor living conditions of Nazi Germany as portrayed by the film (eating poorly, getting Mein Kampf shoved in his face, and having to yell out a "Heil Hitler!" at the sight of a picture of der Fuehrer) and over-working himself in an ammunition factory.